PUTTING IN THE CEILINGS 



each wall almost at right angles to it, thus forming a ledge 

 which would, as it extended, join that coming from the 

 opposite side. These ledges were about one twenty-fifth of 

 an inch in thickness, and the breadth of the galleries was 

 usually about a quarter of an inch. 



In one part several upright partitions formed the scaffold- 

 ing of a lodge which communicated with a number of 

 corridors by openings in the masonry, in another place there 

 was a regularly formed hall with numerous pillars sustaining 

 its vaulted ceiling. Further on it was possible to recognize 

 the plan of one of those squares of which we have spoken 

 before, in which several avenues terminate, and these were 

 the most spacious parts of the ant-hill ; yet the work of 

 constructing a ceiling to cover them in did not appear to 

 cause the labourers any embarrassment, even though the 

 spaces were often two inches or more in breadth. The first 

 foundations of such a ceiling were laid in the angles formed 

 by the upper part of the different walls, and from the top of 

 each pillar, as from so many centres, a horizontal and slightly 

 convex layer of earth was carried forward to meet the several 

 portions coming from different points of the large public 

 thoroughfare. 



The busy crowd of masons arriving from all parts with 

 the load of concrete they wish to add to the building, the 

 order they observe in their operations, the prevailing har- 

 mony, and the eagerness with which they avail themselves of 

 the rain to increase the height of their dwelling, present 

 a most interesting spectacle to one who is a lover of nature. 



I was sometimes afraid that the building was not strong 

 enough to support its own weight, and that the wide ceilings, 

 sustained only by a few pillars, would fall into ruin from the 

 rain continually dropping upon them; but I was reassured 

 when I saw that the earth which the insects brought stuck 



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